Tom Cary is The Telegraph's Formula One Correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter @tomcary_tel

BRDC: "Rumours of impending financial peril are rubbish. These are exciting times for Silverstone."

The British Racing Drivers’ Club today announced its intention to seek joint-venture investment to help it realise "the full potential of Silverstone".

This made me prick up my ears. Silverstone’s ongoing development has been the subject of some sniping and speculation in recent months with rumours that it has run out of cash building the new pits and paddock complex (which will open this year), that it has built the structure below the water table, that Bernie Ecclestone is planning to swoop in and offer to bail it out… in short, that it is being badly mismanaged.

Of course, the BRDC has vociferously denied all these rumours. So what does this latest appeal for investment mean?

The BRDC describes the announcement as “formalising the process” of finding partners, something it has long been upfront about trying to do. It is not a cry for help, it wanted to make clear. The Club is not about to sell Silverstone. And it is adamant that any joint-investor would have to keep motor racing at the centre of any development plans. It claims it just wants to speed up development of the 760-acre estate up.

In a statement on Thursday morning the BRDC said it had appointed Price-Waterhouse Coopers to prepare an information memorandum (IM), which will be circulated to potential investors.

“In addition,” it said, “it [PwC] will help develop plans to include facilities such as hotels, a Hall of Fame to celebrate world motor sport, international and young driver academies, simulation motor sport training, a development and technology park, an enterprise zone, international kart track and off-road facilities, all of which will be added to the venue’s existing thriving business.”

“If we cannot find a suitable investor," it concluded, "or are unable to agree satisfactory terms on a deal, we will continue with the development ourselves, albeit at a slower pace.”

Despite this last sentence – and the implication that the accounts are all in order – I felt that the announcement would definitely be construed in some quarters as a SOS so I called Stuart Rolt, the chairman of the BRDC, to press him further.

He is adamant that Silverstone is thriving and clearly more than a bit miffed by reports to the contrary.

“Silverstone is in a terrifically strong place,” he told me. “We have long-term contracts for the Formula One grand prix, for the MotoGP, we are busier than ever, we have a strong management team. You can see our accounts every year and they will tell you we are making money.

“If there’s one thing I want to get across it is that the rumours of impending financial peril are complete rubbish. These are exciting times. We have a very experienced board. We have extremely talented non-executive directors who have been brought in to help us become more efficient. In short, no one could accuse us of moving in the slow lane any more.

“The BRDC appreciates that it is the guardian of something very precious. Like Wimbledon, like Lords. We want to maximise its use to fans. We want to create technology centres, an academy, more employment for the area. With outside help we can step up the pace. But if nothing suitable arises, we will just carry on as we are.”

I also asked him what Bernie made of Silverstone’s ongoing development and, in particular, these latest plans to find investors.

“Bernie is very supportive,” Rolt said. “He has been very supportive of everything we have done over the past couple of years. He is very complimentary about the efforts we’ve made and continue to make. We like to think we are already the best circuit in Europe and the opening of the new ‘Silverstone Wing’ will really consolidate that.”